1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to audio driving directions. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of improving delivery of audio driving directions from a voice portal to a caller via a telephone interface.
2. Related Art
A voice portal provides the caller access to real-time stock quotes, local weather, traffic reports, airline information, audio driving directions, etc. via a telephone interface. The voice portal relies on a mix of speech recognition technology, prerecorded voice responses, and text-to-speech technology to find and dispense caller-requested information without human help. The primary goal of a voice portal is to give phone users access to real-time information and Internet content with minimal hassle.
The delivery of audio driving directions is a popular feature of voice portals. However, the callers that use this feature may become very frustrated, perceiving the audio driving directions feature as lacking a user-friendly design. Usually, each conventional voice portal adapts its audio driving directions feature from a web-based driving directions design. These conventional voice portals fail to take into account that the experience of a caller navigating the audio driving directions feature via a telephone interface is quite different from the experience of a user navigating the driving directions feature via a Web site.
Generally, the caller has priorities and expectations that differ considerably from a Web-site user. In particular, the caller may have a limited amount of time to spend using the audio driving directions feature. Moreover, the caller may expect accuracy, clarity, ease-of-use, and speedy delivery from the audio driving directions feature. This is especially true if the caller is calling from his/her car while driving.
Conventional voice portals neglect to address the priorities, expectations, and concerns of callers. Hence, the callers are generally unsatisfied with their current experience with the audio driving directions feature. This causes the callers to limit their use of the audio driving directions feature, leading to lost revenue and sales opportunities for the conventional voice portals.